The push for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Yesterday was a busy morning at KMT headquarters in Taipei, with both Yunlin County Council Speaker Chen Ching-hsiu (
"I have already begun a collection of signatures, and the deposit needed for registration is not a problem," Chen said, adding that he planned to register Lien as a candidate in the next couple of days.
In an embarrassing development for Ma Ying-jeou, Ma Ho-ling urged Lien to run for another term as chairman.
Ma Ho-ling said that his son "has no experience" in party operations, and that only Lien could unite the pan-blue camp.
In response, Ma Ying-jeou yesterday said that he respected his father's opinion, but planned to continue with his campaign for the party chairmanship.
Chen said he had collected between 30,000 and 50,000 signatures for Lien's bid and that the required deposit had already been dealt with. However, Lien's "agreement" to run had not yet been "settled," he said.
According to KMT regulations, party members who wish to run in the July 16 chairmanship race must deposit NT$1 million with the party and deliver a petition with the signatures of at least 3 percent of the party membership -- or a minimum of 33,000 signatures.
Chen did not say if he was optimistic about "receiving Lien's authorization" to go ahead with the registration, but he did say that he was in contact with Lien's office and that there should be "no problem."
However, he said, Lien was still standing by his previous statements that he had no intention of running.
In attempting to register Lien for the election, Chen said that he was bringing the voice of the people to the KMT headquarters.
While Lien has said on numerous occasions that he has no plans to run, supporters have argued that only Lien can unite the KMT. They contend that a contest between KMT vice chairmen Ma and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Only if Lien continues as chairman, they say, will the KMT be able to win the 2008 presidential election.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS